No images? Click here the HIDDEN HISTORY of The Economy At a moment when inflation is wreaking havoc on people across the world, we’re taking a closer look at the economy — those often misunderstood, always powerful forces that somehow determine a nation’s prosperity (or lack thereof). What stories do we tell about the economy in order to understand it? How have countries bolstered, or plundered, each other’s finances? What industries, legal and illegal, have had an impact on our world? And how does the economy show up in ordinary people’s lives? Read on to explore these questions with us.
1630s “Tulip Mania” — a madcap period of the Dutch Golden Age, when investors pushed tulip prices to unthinkable highs — has long been an entertaining historical lesson on the dangers of investment bubbles… but how much of the absurd story is actually true? 1700s It wasn’t just southern plantation owners who relied on forced labor to build wealth – even Wall Street had its own slave market. 1800s - 1900s Haitian revolutionaries fought an excruciating battle for freedom from the French. Then the French exacted a doubly excruciating price. 2016 In rural Wyoming, a young workforce has no choice but to hitch their livelihoods to the most controversial and capricious market in the U.S. – fossil fuels. 2017 The illicit substance is one of the most infamous contributors to the Colombian economy, but behind the theatrical reputation are real families just getting by. 2022 For as long as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been used to measure a country’s economic output, unpaid domestic work has been excluded from the calculations. Would factoring it in change how society values childcare? Want more Hidden History? If you found this newsletter on the web or a friend forwarded it to you, don't forget to sign up for future editions below. As always, thanks for reading! Sincerely, The Narratively Team |